bridgesNPR Digital Services RSS Generator 0.94NPR Digital Services RSS Generator 0.94bridgesTue, 20 Feb 2018 04:49:59 +0000bridgeshttp://wesa.fm
Kathleen J. DavisUnder President Donald Trump's infrastructure plan, the federal government would supply 20 percent of funding to chosen projects across the country, with states, cities and private investors providing the remaining 80 percent.Trump's Infrastructure Plan Would Leave Large Funding Deficit For State, Says Peduto http://wesa.fm/post/trumps-infrastructure-plan-would-leave-large-funding-deficit-state-says-peduto
103188 as http://wesa.fmMon, 19 Feb 2018 12:21:42 +0000Trump's Infrastructure Plan Would Leave Large Funding Deficit For State, Says Peduto Margaret J. KraussHeart palpitations, sweating, dizziness. For some people, crossing a bridge induces the same physiological responses as those experienced by an animal frozen in fear, said Dr. Rolf Jacob, a professor of psychiatry at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic in Pittsburgh.Pennsylvania's Bridges Are Struggling With Middle Agehttp://wesa.fm/post/pennsylvanias-bridges-are-struggling-middle-age
79092 as http://wesa.fmMon, 20 Feb 2017 20:03:49 +0000Pennsylvania's Bridges Are Struggling With Middle AgeAssociated PressResidents may not have seen the last of a century-old bridge over the Allegheny River in western Pennsylvania that was imploded earlier this week. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports the steel from the 107-year-old Hulton Bridge could end up in a construction project once it's recycled by P.J. Greco Sons Inc. John Greco, owner of the East Deer scrap yard, says his company is working with bridge contractor Brayman Construction Corp. to haul away more than 2,000 tons of steel. Full removal of the bridge is expected to be finished in May. Brayman and a subcontractor used explosives to bring the bridge down into the Allegheny River on Tuesday. The span connected the Pittsburgh suburbs of Oakmont and Harmar. A new, $66 million Hulton Bridge opened months ago.Imploded Hulton Bridge Likely To Live On In Construction Projectshttp://wesa.fm/post/imploded-hulton-bridge-likely-live-construction-projects
60424 as http://wesa.fmFri, 29 Jan 2016 19:28:18 +0000Imploded Hulton Bridge Likely To Live On In Construction ProjectsAssociated PressWorkers have imploded the old Hulton Bridge over the Allegheny River. The implosion of the 107-year-old span that connects the Pittsburgh suburbs of Oakmont and Harmar occurred about 9:45 a.m. Tuesday.Workers Implode 107-Year-Old Hulton Bridge http://wesa.fm/post/workers-implode-107-year-old-hulton-bridge
60256 as http://wesa.fmTue, 26 Jan 2016 17:23:00 +0000Workers Implode 107-Year-Old Hulton Bridge Sarah SchneiderThe Redevelopment Authority of Allegheny County is looking for development options for more than 150 acres of brownfield space surrounding a former steel yard in Rankin.Allegheny County Looking To Develop 150 Acres Surrounding Carrie Furnace Site http://wesa.fm/post/allegheny-county-looking-develop-150-acres-surrounding-carrie-furnace-site
58749 as http://wesa.fmMon, 21 Dec 2015 22:17:38 +0000Allegheny County Looking To Develop 150 Acres Surrounding Carrie Furnace Site Erika BerasA new Hulton Bridge, which connects Harmar and Oakmont, opened Tuesday afternoon after a celebratory ribbon cutting. Construction on the 4-lane bridge began in September 2013. It cost $65 million and replaces a 2-lane 109 year-old- bridge over the Allegheny River.New Hulton Bridge Openshttp://wesa.fm/post/new-hulton-bridge-opens
55711 as http://wesa.fmTue, 20 Oct 2015 21:06:52 +0000New Hulton Bridge OpensEssential PittsburghThe nation’s oldest state law enforcement agency is in need of recruits. The Pennsylvania State Police are looking for qualified candidates to fill a growing number of vacant positions. However, attracting more men and women to consider careers as troopers has been difficult. C orporal Brian Carpenter says he thinks recent new events involving police and the public have deterred many applicants: "I think that some times even the good people say 'I don't know if I'm willing to go ahead and make the sacrifices that it takes to become a Pennsylvania State Trooper.'" - Corporal Brian CarpenterEssential Pittsburgh: Recruitment Proving Difficult for State Policehttp://wesa.fm/post/essential-pittsburgh-recruitment-proving-difficult-state-police
50396 as http://wesa.fmMon, 06 Jul 2015 06:00:00 +0000Essential Pittsburgh: Recruitment Proving Difficult for State PoliceThe Associated PressAn online poll that drew more than 12,000 votes shows nearly 85 percent of Pittsburghers don't want the city's three "sister bridges" across the Allegheny River to be painted a different color when they're rehabbed. So, the Roberto Clemente, Andy Warhol and Rachel Carson — or 6th, 7th and 9th street — bridges will remain "Aztec Gold."85 Percent Want Pittsburgh's Sister Bridges To Remain Yellowhttp://wesa.fm/post/85-percent-want-pittsburghs-sister-bridges-remain-yellow
50452 as http://wesa.fmSat, 04 Jul 2015 03:09:22 +000085 Percent Want Pittsburgh's Sister Bridges To Remain YellowMike RichardsPennsylvania ranks worst in the country for structurally deficient rural bridges, according to a report released by the Road Information Program (TRIP). The report called “Rural Connections: Challenges and Opportunities in America’s Heartland,” found that the nation’s rural transportation system is in need of improvements to roads and bridges, reducing high crash rates, and increasing connectivity and capacity. The report discovered that the problem is that rural Americans rely more on the quality of their transportation system than urban ones. Unless rural transportation is improved, farmers will pay more for seeds and fertilizers, which increases their cost of production, according Veronica Nigh, economist at the American Farm Bureau. She said the low quality of transportation available for the farmers will then decrease the prices that farmers receive for their crops. “Without an effective transportation system, farmers take a number of significant hits to their bottom line," NighReport: Pennsylvania’s Rural Roads and Bridges Among Worst in Countryhttp://wesa.fm/post/report-pennsylvania-s-rural-roads-and-bridges-among-worst-country
48181 as http://wesa.fmTue, 19 May 2015 20:36:36 +0000Report: Pennsylvania’s Rural Roads and Bridges Among Worst in CountryLiz ReidMore than 500 structurally deficient bridges across Pennsylvania are slated for upgrades in the next year and a half. PennDOT has contracted with Plenary Walsh Keystone Partners in what project manager Dan Galvin calls a unique public-private partnership. “This is something that’s done quite a bit in Europe and Asia, but it is something rather unique in the United States,” Galvin said. PWKP will finance, design, replace, and maintain the bridges for the next 25 years at a cost of $899 million. Galvin said the arrangement will allow the company to take advantage of economies of scale and will ultimately save time and money. “We’re able to manufacture and purchase large quantities of construction materials: girders, beams, aggregate, things like that,” Galvin said. The company plans to use just a handful of bridge designs for the hundreds of bridges, which Galvin said will make the process more efficient. “There really won’t be a whole lot of a learning curve every time a contractorMore Than 500 PA Bridges To Be Replaced In Under Two Yearshttp://wesa.fm/post/more-500-pa-bridges-be-replaced-under-two-years
48088 as http://wesa.fmMon, 18 May 2015 10:36:56 +0000More Than 500 PA Bridges To Be Replaced In Under Two YearsMarielle Segarra | Keystone CrossroadsOn the surface, Dr. Farshad Rajabipour's job might not sound that interesting. He's an associate professor of civil engineering at Penn State. And he studies concrete. "It's actually a material that's used pretty much everywhere in the world," Rajabipour said. "It's so common that people don't notice it."At Penn State, Researchers Looking For The Next Big Thing In Infrastructurehttp://wesa.fm/post/penn-state-researchers-looking-next-big-thing-infrastructure
47043 as http://wesa.fmMon, 27 Apr 2015 14:55:11 +0000At Penn State, Researchers Looking For The Next Big Thing In InfrastructureLiz ReidTransportation advocates in Pittsburgh and more than 100 other American cities are joining forces to call attention to the fast-approaching expiration of surface transportation funding from the federal government. Thursday is being billed as Stand Up for Transportation Day. Chris Sandvig, regional policy director from the Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group, said most people don’t realize that funding is about to dry up. “We are quite literally running out of money in late June and early July of this year, and our transportation system is going to grind to a halt as a result of that,” Sandvig said. The last surface transportation funding bill passed by Congress was the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act, which was signed into law by President Obama in July 2012. It was originally set to expire on Sept. 30, 2014, but was extended until May 31, 2015. Sandvig said without federal funding, Pennsylvania’s efforts at shoring up its transportation system will fall short. Pittsburgh Groups Call on Congress to Pass Transportation Fundinghttp://wesa.fm/post/pittsburgh-groups-call-congress-pass-transportation-funding
46004 as http://wesa.fmTue, 07 Apr 2015 07:30:00 +0000Pittsburgh Groups Call on Congress to Pass Transportation FundingJessica NathWithin the next three years, 558 bridges throughout Pennsylvania will be replaced. PennDOT announced Monday that it had finalized the terms for its Rapid Bridge Replacement Project. “The construction and some of the maintenance will cost roughly $899 million,” said PennDOT spokeswoman Erin Waters-Trasatt. “But we’re expecting to save a good bit for each bridge compared to if we were going through our typical process, and it’s happening much faster than it normally would.” That’s because PennDOT is teaming up with the Plenary Walsh Keystone Partners, a private-sector collaboration of several firms. The partnership has a team of 11 Pennsylvania-based subcontractors that will help carry out the project. According to Waters-Trasatt, all the bridges will be replaced by the end of 2017, but the Partnership will be responsible for the bridges’ maintenance for 25 years after construction. Traditionally, designing, constructing and maintaining a bridge for 28 years would cost more than $2Building Bridges in Bulk Expected to Save Pennsylvania Moneyhttp://wesa.fm/post/building-bridges-bulk-expected-save-pennsylvania-money
41724 as http://wesa.fmTue, 13 Jan 2015 08:30:00 +0000Building Bridges in Bulk Expected to Save Pennsylvania MoneyIrina ZhorovThis is the third story of a three-part series on the state's bridges . About seven years ago, the Bridge Maintenance Engineer for the South Carolina Department of Transportation, Lee Floyd, was concerned about one of his bridge’s ability to hold up while a replacement was built. He placed sensors on the bridge to monitor how it behaved and found that actually he could keep it open without any temporary repairs. “If we had not sensored we probably would’ve gone ahead and spent the money to repair the bridge,” Floyd said. “But by using the sensors it gave a sense of assurance and safety and we were able to avoid that extra expenditure.” He estimated he saved $700,000 in unnecessary repairs on that bridge. Since then, Floyd has embraced these sensors, which produce detailed information on how a bridge is moving and reacting to everything from traffic to wind. He now uses them on other bridges as a kind of structural health monitoring tool, to make management decisions about the state’sThe State of PA's Bridges, Part 3: Inspecting and Managing Them More Efficientlyhttp://wesa.fm/post/state-pas-bridges-part-3-inspecting-and-managing-them-more-efficiently
40095 as http://wesa.fmWed, 10 Dec 2014 12:41:16 +0000The State of PA's Bridges, Part 3: Inspecting and Managing Them More EfficientlyMarielle Segarra | Keystone CrossroadsThis is the second story of a three-part series on the state's bridges. Twenty-three percent of Pennsylvania's bridges are structurally deficient, and many need to be replaced. But between permitting, design, and construction, building a new bridge takes years. That's why the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is trying to speed things up. Traditionally, PennDOT hires companies to replace its bridges one or two at a time. Now, it's trying something different: hiring a team of private contractors to replace hundreds of state bridges really quickly. It's called the Rapid Bridge Replacement Project. Read a full version of this report at the website of Keystone Crossroads , a new statewide public media initiative reporting on the challenges facing Pennsylvania's cities. The State of PA's Bridges, Part 2: Rebuilding Them Fasterhttp://wesa.fm/post/state-pas-bridges-part-2-rebuilding-them-faster
40036 as http://wesa.fmTue, 09 Dec 2014 12:28:06 +0000 The State of PA's Bridges, Part 2: Rebuilding Them FasterMarielle Segarra | Keystone CrossroadsThis is the first story of our three-part series on the state's bridges. If you drive in Pennsylvania, you've probably crossed a structurally deficient bridge. Maybe you're driving over one right now. Pennsylvania has more than 30,000 bridges. Some span rivers, like the Ben Franklin Bridge in Philadelphia, and others are much smaller, crossing rural creeks and highways. More than 6,000 of these bridges are structurally deficient. (We put together an interactive map of the state's structurally deficient bridges.) You might think that means the bridges are on the verge of collapse. Engineers say that's not the case. Read a full version of this report at the website of Keystone Crossroads , a new statewide public media initiative reporting on the challenges facing Pennsylvania's cities. The State of PA's Bridges, Part 1: How Are They Holding Up?http://wesa.fm/post/state-pas-bridges-part-1-how-are-they-holding
39969 as http://wesa.fmMon, 08 Dec 2014 12:57:45 +0000 The State of PA's Bridges, Part 1: How Are They Holding Up?Michael LynchThe National Science Foundation has awarded $9.65 million to the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center Monday to create a user-friendly supercomputer called “Bridges.” Unlike other systems that require users to login, punch in commands using specialized computing skills and wait a few days for the results, Bridges allows scientists and researchers to access the database online through a series of portals, which Nick Nystrom, director of strategic applications at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, said leads to a more fluid experience. “We’re focusing on looking at big data, on data analytics, on new communities like the social sciences, humanities, machine learning and other groups that, so far haven’t used supercomputers for various reasons,” he said. One of those reasons being a lack of “desktop convenience.” Nystrom said researchers in those fields are more interested in exploring ideas and experimenting, as opposed to harvesting numerical information, and a more user-friendlyNew Supercomputer to Create 'Extensive National Library' in Pittsburghhttp://wesa.fm/post/new-supercomputer-create-extensive-national-library-pittsburgh
39319 as http://wesa.fmMon, 24 Nov 2014 19:39:34 +0000New Supercomputer to Create 'Extensive National Library' in PittsburghKaye BurnetPittsburgh is known as “The City of Bridges,” but a recent study by national transportation research group TRIP suggests that there are other areas in the state whose bridges could use a little more attention. The study, published Thursday, found that the condition of Pennsylvania’s rural bridges was the worst in the country. Pennsylvania’s country roads scored slightly better, at the 20 th worst among the 50 states. The fatality statistics were grim—Pennsylvania has the 10 th highest death rate on its country roads of any state. The report, “Rural Connections: Challenges and Opportunities in America’s Heartland,” collected data from all 50 states on any roads and bridges located in a municipality with fewer than 50,000 residents. A quarter of Pennsylvania’s rural bridges are currently “structurally deficient,” said Carolyn Kelly, Associate Director of Research and Communication for TRIP. This is similar to Pennsylvania’s overall bridge deterioration measurement of 23 percent, whichStudy: PA's Rural Bridges Worst in the Countryhttp://wesa.fm/post/study-pas-rural-bridges-worst-country
32424 as http://wesa.fmMon, 14 Jul 2014 07:30:00 +0000Study: PA's Rural Bridges Worst in the CountryMary WilsonPennDOT is reconsidering the weight restrictions placed on structurally deficient bridges in August. The restrictions came as a result of the Legislature’s failure to approve additional transportation funding over the summer. But with a funding plan now in place for road and bridge work, PennDOT spokeswoman Erin Waters-Trasatt says the department can start re-evaluating bridge postings. "We’re going to be looking at all the bridges that have weight restrictions and looking at our system as a whole and seeing which of these we can either adjust the ratings on or maybe take the restrictions fully off, but we will not take these off unless the bridge can safely handle that load," she said. Waters-Trasatt says state and locally-owned bridges that are scheduled for repairs within two years will have weight restrictions rescinded. Industry groups, including gas companies and farmers, complained about how limiting some structures to lighter loads made their operating costs go up – sinceWith Funding Plan in Place, PennDOT Reconsidering Weight Restrictions for Bridgeshttp://wesa.fm/post/funding-plan-place-penndot-reconsidering-weight-restrictions-bridges
20517 as http://wesa.fmFri, 29 Nov 2013 08:30:00 +0000With Funding Plan in Place, PennDOT Reconsidering Weight Restrictions for BridgesLiz ReidThe Pennsylvania General Assembly has just four voting days left this year, and they still have not passed a transportation funding bill. A Senate bill that would fund roads, bridges and public transit has been languishing since it was passed in June. Now, a local nonprofit is trying to turn up the heat on key legislators by calling the constituents in their districts. Breen Masciotra is the regional outreach manager for the Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group , or PCRG, a consortium of community development organizations from around the greater Pittsburgh area. “We’re here at the United Steelworkers using their phone bank system to reach out to voters in districts of legislators that we think are on the fence on this issue, and we’re asking their constituents to call them and ask them to support the bill,” Masciotra said. PCRG has identified 12 state representatives from around the commonwealth they think could help get a transportation funding bill passed. Many of the targetedTransit Activists Ask Pennsylvanians to Call State Reps About Transportation Billhttp://wesa.fm/post/transit-activists-ask-pennsylvanians-call-state-reps-about-transportation-bill
19714 as http://wesa.fmWed, 13 Nov 2013 12:44:08 +0000Transit Activists Ask Pennsylvanians to Call State Reps About Transportation Bill